


Will to Live

by nyagosstar



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Alternate Universe, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-10
Updated: 2012-10-10
Packaged: 2017-11-16 01:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyagosstar/pseuds/nyagosstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ed had not been able to rouse him at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Will to Live

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the 30_wounds community challenge. sainnis was my awesome beta, and she is the best support system a writer could have.

It was so dark Ed had a hard time seeing the road in front of his feet. He shivered continuously, and even with the heavy burden cradled in his arms he couldn’t work up enough heat. If only Roy hadn’t decided to take the back roads home from the dinner, if only Ed had cautioned against driving dark roads in the dead of winter. They were so far from the city and without any supplies in the car.

Ed shut his eyes momentarily at the thought of the car, or what was left of it. He’d been looking out his window, Roy’s voice a calming counterpoint that had lulled him into a sleepy lethargy. Then Roy gasped, the car swerved and for seconds that lasted too long, there was nothing but movement and the sound of the car breaking apart around them. When they came to a final stop, Ed was more than a little surprised to still be alive. He hurt; he was sure his ribs were broken and his head was bleeding, but he was breathing and that was a good start.

But Roy. Ed had to stop his stumbling steps and clutch Roy’s still form closer to him for a moment as the image washed over him yet again. Roy was crumpled over the steering wheel, his arm bent at a strange angle and his face covered in blood. Ed had not been able to rouse him at all.

Panic and adrenaline helped Ed get them out of the car and started down the road. With the cold and their injuries, they couldn’t wait and hope someone would happen upon them, and the only thing Ed could think to do was keep going. Each breath burned his lungs, every step jarred his hurting body. The cold had seeped into his skin and automail until he was nothing but pain. Stopping would have been the easiest thing in the world, but Roy’s face was pressed against his neck and the slight, uneven puffs of warm air were all the reminder that Ed needed.

He’d known pain worse than this. He’d soldiered on through worse conditions. His own discomfort was nothing as long as Roy kept breathing and they had a sliver of a chance to get to help. After all they’d gone through, it was ridiculous to think they could die out here, in the middle of nowhere because Roy wanted to take the scenic route home. Ed wouldn’t let it happen.

Eventually, the weight of Roy in his arms was less a burden and more a reminder of everything he would lose if he didn’t keep going. The cold helped numb both the pain and his thoughts. He became nothing more than a machine built to put one foot in front of the other. It was as though his whole body had been made of automail, rather than only two limbs.

Just one more step, one more step, one more step. Ed covered miles with that mantra running through his thoughts and when he saw the headlights on the road, the idea of anything else in his world other than Roy and walking was so foreign that Ed didn’t recognize it for what it was until the car stopped. Al and Hawkeye were like heroes stepping out of a fairytale, prying Roy from his arms when it was clear Ed’s muscles were locked in place.

It was only when Ed was settled in the back seat, covered in blankets and slowly warming in the heated interior that Roy stirred for the first time since the accident. He reached out and caught Ed’s wrist, his grip weak but purposeful. “All right?”

Ed laughed, called him an asshole and closed his eyes, able to relax at last.


End file.
